Bug Squad

 Talk about a slugfest.Slugs took a liking to the milkweed in our pollinator garden. They stripped the leaves from one tender young plant and were munching on two other plants--until we dispatched them. We don't think they crossed the Rainbow Bridge. If they did, they left a slimy trail."Sorry,…

 We have a winner!Drum roll...the winner of the 2026 Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-Year Contest, sponsored by the Bohart Museum of Entomology is Lesley Hamamoto of Sacramento.She photographed a black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, nectaring on manzanita at  9…

 Bruce Hammock, 1947-2026.I never thought I'd write that. UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock was an amazing scientist--a genius, really--an incredible mentor, and a good friend. He passed on Monday, Jan. 5, at age 78, and the world will never be the same.When I visited his office…

 Friday, Jan. 9 is the deadline to register for the two long-awaited workshops: The Science of Honey Tasting and The Science of Mead Tasting.Coordinated by the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), based at the University of California, Davis, and Z Food Specialty/The HIVE, Woodland, both of the…

 Doctoral candidate Mia Lippey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, an outstanding scholar and self-described "life-long lover of all things insect-related," is looking forward to delivering her exit seminar.An entomologist and ecologist active in both the Entomological Society…